root canal treatment - NHS and private costs & pros and cons

fran_from_willesden

I've had an infection in one of my teeth which hasn't cleared up after antibiotics so I now have to have root canal work on said tooth. :eek: I was just wondering if anyone else has had this done and if it was painful?? Also how long did it take??

Thanks

fran

verynewmoneysaver

I have had this done a couple of times. I did not find it painful at all. My dentist is very good though.

andycarmi

I have had it done too. It wasn't painful- it took nearly an hour.

Paying for it was the painful part!:rotfl:

Fran

It just takes longer and you might have to go back a couple of times ... the worst thing is the length of time sat there! Don't worry about pain as the nerve is usually (always?) dead when they are doing that. (I think... wish I hadn't written that now, perhaps a dentist will post! :rolleyes: )

wigginsmum

I had this done at the Eastman Dental Hospital some years ago - I kept getting abcesses on my gum, and X-rays showed that a former dentist of mine from a decade before had broken off the tips of two dental instruments in there and then just filled over the top.

They asked to use me in their research; I had 4 visits. They fixed some kind of plastic spreader in my mouth to keep it wide open, injected very effective painkillers (the only thing I felt was the needle going into my gum), and hooked me up to a Walkman; I dozed through most of it to the sound of soothing music. They ground out the inside part of my tooth, removed the metallic bits, washed it all out, repacked it and sent me off back to my own dentist to get a crown. No problems at all.

tonytooth

Don't worry about pain as the nerve is usually (always?) dead when they are doing that.

Hi guys..... I'll keep this simple..
Root canal treatment (RCT) is performed on a tooth which has a nerve that is dead or dying..... If performed on a tooth which retains some vitality, the local anaesthetic will still render the procedure painless..
As had been said, it does take time to do properly so the time factor is the worst thing about it.
Also note that no RCT can be guaranteed to be 100% successful, no matter who the dentist is.... Some pitfalls with it including recurrent infections and, as mentioned, broken files left in the tooth.....
However it's often the only option other than extraction in these cases and works the majority of times......

hope this of help, and it is my first post so go easy on me

black-saturn

I had an absess on a tooth which they tried antibiotics with. They didnt work so I had root canal work. It didnt hurt. The most painful part was the injections. Your mouth is numb for ages afterwards. Then I had to go back for a second treatment as the absess came back (the pain of that is on a par with having a baby). Then one day I was eating a wine gum and I felt a crack in my mouth. It was the tooth which had broken off due to how much gouging out it had had. Now theres no tooth there at all.

helen21_2

I have had it done with no pain after (and boy im a wimp) and no problems after either

Welcome to the boards Tony :hello:

rubytuesday

I'll just say I now need a general anesthetic to let them come near my teeth!!!! :eek:

Sujamjen

I half agree with everyone else here! I've had this done on 2 teeth and it is true that the work itself doesn't hurt, the injections were painful as I had to have them in the roof of my mouth (it was the 2 front teeth that were being treated - about 2 years apart and with different dentists) but I looked like I'd had a fight the next day - face was swollen and there was bruising too and the stitches in the gum were sore for several days and like everyone else having to pay for it was no picnic either! Good luck!

Dora_the_Explorer_5

It doesn't hurt whilst the work is being carried out, and if it does ask your dentist to top up the local anaesthetic. As others have said, it's longwinded but worth it.
Some people are able to cope with pain more easily than others - Black Saturn compared the pain of an abscess to the pain of childbirth, but other people won't experience this level of pain with an abscess, although they're not nice. Most dentists will spray the site of the injection of LA with a numbing spray (most often used with children) if the patient asks them to. This means the paitient doesn't even feel the discomfort of the hypo needle. Ibruprofen or paracetamol for any soreness or discomfort after the LA has worn off usually helps. Good luck